NASCAR on FOX Cranks Up 2011 Season with ‘Daytona 500’ Sunday

Share this:

NASCAR on FOX Cranks Up 2011 Season with Daytona 500 Sunday at 12:00 PM ET

Waltrip: Everyone is Pulling for Junior This Sunday

On Sunday, Feb. 20 (12:00 PM ET), FOX Sports proudly presents the 53rd running of the Daytona 500. Coverage starts with the NASCAR on FOX prerace show host Chris Myers, along with analysts Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond from the Hollywood Hotel, FOX Sports’ traveling prerace set providing up- to-the-minute reports and live interviews with drivers, crewmen and officials shaping the day’s action.

Sunday’s special prerace show features:

? Some of the sports world’s most dominant champions, including Derek Jeter, Lance Armstrong, Wayne Gretzky and Kelly Slater, marvel at Jimmie Johnson’s unprecedented streak of five-consecutive Sprint Cup championships and how difficult it is to maintain that level of excellence

? NASCAR on FOX commemorates the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death at the 2001 Daytona 500 and looks at the changes in the sport since that fateful day

? A live performance from country music superstar and three-time Grammy Award- winner Brad Paisley

? An in-depth survey of how the new repaved track at Daytona International Speedway will affect drivers and teams

? Live interviews from pit road of NASCAR’s top drivers as they prepare to run the Great American Race

? The stars of “TRANSFORMERS: Dark of the Moon”– Josh Duhamel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and director Michael Bay serve as the Grand Marshals and deliver the four most famous words in motorsports – “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

? In addition, the modified NASCAR stock cars of drivers Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dale Earnhardt Jr. featured in the movie make their first public appearance by leading the 43-car field during the pace laps

Once the green flag drops, race announcer Mike Joy is alongside analysts Waltrip and Larry McReynolds to call all the twists and turns on the track while Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum patrol the pits for reports on teams and pit stops.

New innovations added to NASCAR on FOX’s coverage this season:

Incorporation of more driver/crew chief radio communications in broadcasts

Steering sensors in every Sprint Cup car steering wheel

Daytona International Speedway features 2 “X-MO” cameras (500 frames per second) at turns 2 and 4

Incorporation of more driver/crew chief radio communications in broadcasts Steering sensors in every Sprint Cup car steering wheel Daytona International Speedway features 2 “X-MO” cameras (500 frames per second) at turns 2 and 4

WALTRIP: EVERYONE IS PULLING FOR JUNIOR ON SUNDAY – NASCAR on FOX lead analyst Darrell Waltrip calls his eighth Daytona 500 this Sunday afternoon and talks about the buzz around Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the pole for the Great American Race. “Conspiracy theorists are now saying NASCAR looked the other way and that’s how he’s on the pole for Daytona,” said Waltrip today on The Dan Patrick Show on FOX Sports Radio. “Our sport is open and transparent. Everyone knows that’s not what’s going on. But I’m pulling for him and I think everyone is. A win from him would be a great way to start the season.”

FUEL TV’S “COLLEGE EXPERIMENT” PROFILES TEXAS COLLEGE CHEERLEADERS – FUEL TV’s “College Experiment”, Thursday, Feb. 17 (12:00AM ET/9:00PM PT) takes a look at why Texas schools such as TCU, Texas A&M and Texas State have the best looking cheerleaders. In addition, Charlie Sheen gave UCLA baseball team an anti-drug pep talk and Hot Girl on Campus Alison Skipper returns to the Winter X Games in Aspen to learn from one of the best skiers around.